Same location, new age group, same results! Several athletes won at WMACi2019 and returned to win the event in a new age group. Repeat 800m Champions were Eva Trost, W55, GER, Virginia Mitchell, W60, GBR, Iris Hornsey, W80, GBR, and Joe Gough, M70, IRL. Alison Bourgeois, W65, GBR, almost repeated as 800m Champion. She and Gunnel Tolfes, SWE, separated from the rest on the back straight away and Gunnel, 2:51.13, outleaned Alison, 2:51.16, at the finish.
Other repeat World Champions were Jonas Asplund, M50, SWE, in pole vault, triple jumpers Andrea Szirbucz, W50, HUN, and Gloria Krug, W90, USA, Ralf Mordhorst, M45, GER, in discus throw, Maria Sløk Hansen, W40, DEN, in hammer throw and Mariusz Walczak, M50, POL, in weight throw.
Virginia Mitchell lowered the W60 800m world record in her 800m final. That record was further lowered by Sue McDonald, USA, in the next race. Francesco D’Agostino, ITA, ran 2:06.10 to set the M55 800m world record. World records were also set in 200m heats. Nicole Alexis, FRA, lowered the W60 record to 27.70 and Karla Del Grande, CAN, ran 31.65 to reset the W70 record. Tomorrow, both women will attempt to repeat their 2019 accomplishment of winning this event.
M75 and M45 800m finals were also exceptionally close. Hans Smeets, NED, ran the M75 race with Gary Patton, USA, following closely behind or side by side. Hans prevailed in 2:43.78 over Gary’s 2:43.97. Wilfredo Borotoche, VEN, came from sixth on the final lap to outkick Cosmin Sorin Ilie, ROU, 2:00.03 to 2:00.11, for the gold medal. 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympian, Michelle Rohl, USA, earned silver in W55. The youngest female athlete, Lucie Membrado, FRA, also earned silver running 2:18.33. in the W35 800m final. Angel Cano Alcolea, M85, ESP, competing in her seventeenth Championship, earned the top podium spot in her 800m final.
Dolf Berle, USA, and Stefano Peli, ITA, cleared every first attempt up to 3.40m in pole vault except for Stefano’s miss at 3.25m. That proved to be the difference for Dolf to earn the gold in the M60 contest. Older men’s shot put competitions were very close too. Jim Blair, M90, NZL, threw 6.72 in the first round then stayed ahead of many close throws by Czeslaw Pluszczewski, POL, who earned silver with 6.64. Östen Edlund, SWE, and Lothar Huchthausen battled in M85. Östen opened with 10.62m. Lothar countered with 10.63 in the third round. They threw 10.82m and 10.83m respectively in the fourth round then Östen popped 10.90m for his final throw. Hubert Tobias, POL, and Marek Glowacki, CAN, threw over 11m on all their legal attempts. Their second round throws, 11.77m and 11.65m respectively, were the best of the day in the M80 category.
